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On Feb. 25 and 26, hundreds of athletes from across New York state will converge in Syracuse to compete in the Special Olympics New York winter games. One of those athletes is Ryan Goldacker.
It’s a Tuesday night. That means it’s a training session for him. He methodically moves down the mountain, a place where his disability doesn’t disable him.
“I was born with Down syndrome,” Goldacker said.
Goldacker has a weekly routine as he is preparing to go for gold.
“I have a lot [of medals] at home, mostly gold, then others,” Goldacker said.
The 36-year-old has been competing for decades.
“I started skiing when I was 11. I started the Special Olympics when I was 8 because I used to do swimming,” Goldacker said.
Swimming and skiing haven’t been his only sports.
“I do bench press, deadlifts, and I think I did try squats,” Goldacker said.
He’s really good at power lifting. Hitting the slopes helps him stay limber for the summer games.
“I actually went to the USA games, that’s the national one, back in 2014 for powerlifting,” Goldacker said.
Win or lose, it’s all about one thing.
“To just have fun,” Goldacker said.
Ryan, like so many other athletes across the state, are doing just that.
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